Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
A central part of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) is the certainty of the return of our Lord. He promises, “I come quickly” (22:7, 12, 20). This “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) means that Jesus could come at any time – yes, even today! – and that the events of the end times will occur with astonishing speed. Yet, we sometimes struggle with this sublime truth because we have never seen anything like it. The Creation and the Flood, dramatic worldwide events, took place a long time ago. The Exodus, including the crossing of the Red Sea, was a localized miracle. Even the first advent of Jesus was quite localized, and initially only a few believed in what was right before them. We do not have a frame of reference for such a truly awesome occurrence. Thus, we are tempted to push it aside, believing the doctrine but not putting it into practice. Avoiding this teaching will adversely affect our spiritual growth: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” ()Titus 2:11-13). Let us then often consider the return of Jesus. A friend of mine who is now with the Savior in heaven used to try to begin every day with the question, “Is today the day, Lord?” He was one of the finest Christians that I have ever known, and I am sure that his active interest in Jesus’ return aided him in his walk of faith. The same can be true of each one of us.